[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 38 (Tuesday, February 28, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S514-S515]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Judicial Nominations
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, in keeping with their promise to
fundamentally transform the country, Joe Biden and the Democrats have
done everything in their power to fundamentally transform the Federal
judiciary. As a member of the Judiciary Committee, I have been able to
interact with many of these nominees, and I have to say that I fully
believe the American people deserve better.
There was Charnelle Bjelkengren, Joe Biden's nominee to the Eastern
District of Washington. Now, she couldn't tell the committee what
article II of the Constitution says, but I expect my Democratic
colleagues will send her nomination to the floor this Thursday.
Dale Ho, who received the unanimous support of committee Democrats to
serve in the Southern District of New York, referred to himself as a
``wild-eyed sort of leftist'' and disparaged members of the committee
on Twitter.
Before she was nominated to serve on the Fourth Circuit, DeAndrea
Benjamin released multiple people on bond who went on to commit more
violent crimes. She, too, received the unanimous support of committee
Democrats.
Todd Edelman, who is well on his way to becoming a district judge
here in the District of Columbia, also displayed soft-on-crime
tendencies. He released a known criminal who then went on to
participate in the murder of a child. He received yet another vote of
unanimous support from committee Democrats.
Marian Gaston, nominee to the Southern District of California, wrote
a policy paper arguing that we should do away with residence
restrictions for convicted child sex offenders.
Orelia Merchant, nominee to the Eastern District of New York,
couldn't define ``originalism.''
This is an embarrassment, and it gets even worse, and it gets even
worse when you look at the lack of qualification of the nominees the
Democrats are sending for lifetime appointments to the Federal bench.
Few nominations have been as disturbing as President Biden's
elevation of Michael Delaney to the First Circuit. To date, Mr.
Delaney's most noteworthy contribution to his profession is the vicious
intimidation of an underage sexual assault survivor who dared to speak
out against one of his clients.
My colleagues on the Judiciary Committee already know the story of
what Mr. Delaney did to Chessy Prout and her family, but I am going to
repeat it here for my colleagues who are unfamiliar with this nominee's
background. You should vote against this nominee, and here is why.
When she was a freshman at the elite St. Paul's Boarding School,
Chessy Prout was sexually assaulted by an older student participating
in ``senior salute.'' This was a campus-wide competition that
encouraged senior men to commit statutory rape.
The perpetrator was ultimately found guilty of misdemeanor statutory
rape, but the Prouts wanted their day in court with a civil suit. They
had evidence that the powers that be at St. Paul's knew about this sick
tradition.
Mr. Delaney represented the school, and he decided he was going to
play hardball. He moved to have Chessy, who was a minor child, named
publicly in a lawsuit that had garnered national attention. That is
right--let's publicly name this child in a lawsuit that had garnered
national attention.
I would ask my colleagues, does that sound like an action that
someone who is going to sit on the Federal bench should be taking?
Mr. Delaney knew that if he exposed Chessy as Jane Doe, he would put
her at risk of bullying, social isolation, and physical harm. He knew
that, but it was worth it to him because it meant he could silence
Chessy Prout, and he could go on and protect an elite private school
that had a sick tradition. Their leadership knew about that sick
tradition.
Most of my Republican colleagues came to Mr. Delaney's confirmation
hearing, and they questioned him about this action. Only two of my
Democratic colleagues chose to attend the hearing and to question him.
Why? Because even my friends on the other side of the aisle who have
rubberstamped each of President Biden's unqualified nominees, no matter
how controversial they were, they knew this guy, Mr. Delaney, is unfit
to sit on the bench.
I would say two things to Chairman Durbin and the rest of my
Democratic colleagues on the Judiciary Committee. First, even a cursory
glance at this nominee's record should have landed his file in the
trash can. You don't do this. You do not do this to minor children. But
now that his nomination is facing a vote, you need look no further into
Mr. Delaney's record than what has already been laid out before us. He
harassed and threatened a 15-year-old little girl who survived a sexual
assault and who was just trying to protect other young women at that
school from that same fate. That should be enough for every single
member on the Judiciary Committee to oppose this nomination. It should
be enough for every Member of this Chamber to oppose his nomination and
confirmation.
Confirming Mr. Delaney would send a chilling message--a chilling
message--to victims of sexual assault. No victim would ever be able to
walk into his courtroom and feel that they would be treated fairly
under the law after seeing the way he treated Chessy Prout.
I wanted to let Chessy speak for herself in a letter she submitted to
the Judiciary Committee. My concern is that many of my colleagues in
this Chamber have not seen this letter. Indeed, I am concerned that
Members of the Democratic caucus who did not attend the
[[Page S515]]
hearing are unaware of this letter. So I will allow her to speak.
I quote:
If Michael Delaney is confirmed--if an attorney who
brazenly intimidated a minor victim of sexual assault is
given the distinct privilege to serve as a judge for the
United States Court of Appeals--YOU--
Meaning every single one of you who would vote for him--
--are telling victims and survivors that you not only approve
of victim intimidation tactics, you reward their enactors
with one of the highest legal appointments in the state of
Massachusetts.
I expressed my concerns to . . . the Department of Justice
when Michael Delaney was first nominated in April of 2022,
and today I am urging you to vote ``NO'' to Michael Delaney's
nomination.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Chessy's full letter be
printed in the Record alongside my remarks.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
To: Senate Judiciary Committee
From: Chessy Prout
Dear Senators: My name is Chessy Prout, and I'm writing
about President Biden's nomination of Michael A. Delaney to
the US Court of Appeals in Boston. I am asking that you vote
``NO'' to his nomination. Michael Delaney is not ethically
qualified to sit on the bench.
I believe the justice system needs to serve all involved in
court proceedings--the victim/complainant and the defendant/
institution. A lawyer who practices victim intimidation is
doing nothing for the greater good of the community; he
stands in the way of justice and furthermore keeps his
community in a toxic cycle of harm and silence.
I was the State of New Hampshire's primary witness in their
case against Owen Labrie in 2015. When I was fifteen years
old in 2014, I was sexually assaulted by Owen Labrie during a
spring rite of passage at St. Paul's School in Concord, New
Hampshire called the ``senior salute'', a ritual involving
upperclassmen soliciting sexual favors from underclassmen
before graduation. The terminology ``Senior Salute'' was
published in the school newspaper (a documented exhibit in
the trial), the Rector Michael Hirschfeld's wife received a
``senior salute'' by email from a student, and the Rector
Michael Hirschfeld was the faculty advisor for a handbook
outlining colloquial terms among the student body, including
a definition of the ``senior salute.''
During the trial of the State's case in 2015, multiple St.
Paul's School students were called to testify to Labrie's
premeditation. The day of the students' scheduled testimony,
I walked into the Merrimack Courthouse through the back doors
with a bailiff to avoid the news cameras at the front of the
courthouse (I was a minor and Jane Doe in the case.) In a
conference room on the first floor by the back door entrance
I saw my former classmates, those who were scheduled to
testify and some who were mere spectators, speaking with
Michael Delaney. My father, Alexander Prout, and the director
of public affairs for the New Hampshire Coalition Against
Domestic and Sexual Violence, Amanda Grady Sexton, also
witnessed the group assembled in the conference room. We
notified state prosecutor Catherine Ruffle of what we saw.
When the students took to the stand, the pre-trial get-
together Michael Delaney was involved in and seemingly
coordinated on behalf of St. Paul's School began to make
sense. The students had a new, carefully worded response when
defining the ``senior salute'' to the jury, and all denied
the school had any knowledge of the insidious nature of the
ritual. From the scene that I witnessed in the courthouse
conference room with the students and Michael Delaney to the
new, stilted, coordinated definitions of the students
testifying, I believe Michael Delaney tampered with the
witnesses on behalf of his client, St. Paul's School.
When I learned the extent to which St. Paul's School knew
of my perpetrator's prior abuse, my family and I sued the
school in 2016. Michael Delaney, in response to our suit and
as St. Paul's School's counsel, submitted a motion to strip
my anonymity. I refused to allow this textbook tactic of
victim intimidation to silence me, so I came forward publicly
with my name and my story in an attempt to use my voice to
shed light on the experience of a teenaged survivor of sexual
assault.
I remember so clearly reading Michael Delaney's motion
front to back when I came home from my new high school one
day, processing what it meant, and then defiantly stating to
my parents that after everything I'd been dragged through
(from anonymous death and rape threats on the internet to the
betrayal of and backlash from my closest friends at St.
Paul's School), I wasn't going to let Michael Delaney's dirty
tactics bully me, then 16, into shame and silence.
When survivors of sexual harassment, assault, and abuse
come forward to seek some semblance of justice, there is an
army of attorneys with a tried and true playbook of tactics
to discredit, pressure, and manipulate survivors and victims
into silence. What these attorneys don't seem to realize is
that most survivors are simply seeking an acknowledgement of
harm and an actionable plan to make their community a safer
place.
Every 68 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted; every
nine minutes, that victim is a child. According to the USDOJ,
63% of sexual assaults are not reported to the police. Of the
37% who do report, only 2.5% get some form of justice. This
staggering statistic should give everyone, especially those
in the legal field, pause.
If Michael Delaney is confirmed--if an attorney who
brazenly intimidated a minor victim of sexual assault is
given the distinct privilege to serve as a judge for the
United States Court of Appeals--YOU are telling victims and
survivors that you not only approve of victim intimidation
tactics, you reward their enactors with one of the highest
legal appointments in the state of Massachusetts.
I expressed my concerns to Attorney from the Department of
Justice when Michael Delaney was first nominated in April
2022, and today I am urging you to vote ``NO'' to Michael
Delaney's nomination.
Sincerely,
Chessy Prout.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. The White House knew that Mr. Delaney was unfit to
serve, but they nominated him anyway.
For the sake of young men and women around this country who are
survivors of sexual assault, I urge President Biden to withdraw Michael
Delaney's nomination, and I call on my Democratic colleagues to urge
the White House to withdraw this nomination. If they do not withdraw
this nomination of a man who intimidated a minor child, exposing a
minor child, who is unfit to serve--I urge you to vote no if the White
House does not pull this nomination.